BTR-4

The BTR-4 armored personnel carrier [APC], designed and built as a private financing initiative project by the Fiscal Enterprise ‘Morozov Machine Design Bureau of Kharkiv’, is intended to carry motorized infantry personnel on the battlefield and provide close fire support.

The BTR-4 APC is used in Army units involved in combat operations in various battlefield environments and conditions, including the ones involving the use of weapons of mass destruction. This APC can be employed as a main fighting platform for rapid reaction and naval infantry forces. The vehicle can operate with a high degree of efficiency on a 24 hour basis, in various climatic conditions, on roads of all types (paved as well as unsurfaced, and also off -the-road), at free-air temperatures ranging from minus 40 to plus 55 degrees Centigrade.

The BTR-4 layout design -- which allows its fighting and troop compartments to be easily reconfigured without the need of rearranging the engine transmission block -- could be used as baseline configuration for a comprehensive family of armoured fighting vehicles.

The APC’s chassis has load carrying capability which not only allows for a broad variety of spinoff variants and AFV families to be designed on its basis, but also enables installation of appliqué armor protecting against small-caliber automatic gun fire. This APC fully conforms to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s operational requirements for future armored fighting vehicles in this category. In terms of its overall layout design, the BTR-4 APC is a far cry from any of the older modifications of the BTR series (BTR-60/70/80/90).

The vehicle is divided into three compartments, with the driving compartment in the front hull, the power pack compartment in the mid-center and the fighting and personnel compartments at the rear of the hull. The power pack compartment is located immediately behind the driver’s seat on its left, and it is linked to the troop compartment via a right-side passageway. The troop compartment in the rear hull has a two-part door (upper and lower parts which open outwards) for troop mount/dismount. The commander and driver can enter and exit the vehicle by side doors fitted with integral bullet-resistant windows. Like the commander’s and driver’s doors, the windscreen is of bulletproof glass-block construction, and it can be additionally protected with back folding armor screens. The baseline BTR-4 has combat weight of 17 tons (19.30 tons with a GROM weapons station), and with applique armor protection (against 30-mm gun fire) this can amount to 27 tons. The BTR-4 can carry a squad of eight personnel, in addition to its three-man crew.

This armored troop carrier can mount multipurpose above-hull weapons stations of various types, particularly the ones designed for lightweight armored fighting vehicles. The power pack consists of a two-stroke 3TD diesel engine developing 500 hp, integrated with an automatic hydrokinetic transmission, with options including a Deutz diesel generating 489 hp or 598 hp.

The BTR-4 can operate in dense dust environments, at ambient temperatures ranging from -40oC to +55oC. It has good cross-country capabilities, and is capable of a maximum speed of 110 km/p when riding on hardsurface roads and 10 km/p when afloat. The baseline BTR-4 design can be reconfigured for various applications, including: fire support vehicle, command vehicle, armored medical evacuation vehicle, self-propelled anti-aircraft gun system, reconnaissance and observation vehicle and recovery vehicle.